Former One Direction singer Zayn Malik drew widespread attention Wednesday after revealing he left approximately $680 under his five-year-old daughter Khai’s pillow when she lost her first tooth, in what he described as an instinct to overcompensate rooted in his own modest upbringing.
The 33-year-old made the disclosure during the February 11 episode of the Call Her Daddy podcast, his first major sit-down interview in nearly six years. Host Alex Cooper visibly reacted to the figure, initially siding with Gigi Hadid, Khai’s mother, who Zayn Malik said had reprimanded him over the extravagant gesture. “I think I gave her a bit too much money from the tooth fairy,” Malik admitted. “It’s her first tooth. Her mom gave me s*** about it, but at the end of the day, I work my a** off and I should be able to give my kid what I want to give her.”
Cooper pushed back. “Hold on, I may have to agree with her mom on this,” the podcaster said. “Five hundred quid for one tooth. That’s so crazy.”
Malik was unapologetic but self-aware, acknowledging the sum was excessive while connecting the decision to his childhood financial insecurity. The British singer said he felt fortunate to be able to provide for his daughter after growing up with financial instability himself. “I was lucky if I got anything for my teeth,” he said. “I’ve worked really hard for everything that I’ve earned, so I don’t feel like I should have to answer to those things.” He added: “There’s definitely a feeling of ‘I didn’t get to do this, so I want you to be able to feel this.’ I overcompensate a little bit too much for that.”
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Zayn Malik confirmed he plans to frame the tooth as a keepsake. He also joked that Khai’s future tooth fairy visits would be considerably less generous. “She gets $5 next time. The tooth fairy’s gone broke now,” he said.
The singer acknowledged that his daughter’s reality is fundamentally different from most children’s, with a pop star father and supermodel mother shaping her understanding of the world.
“I’m raising her in an environment that isn’t the same as everybody’s,” Malik said. “Her dad is a pop star and her mum is a model, and certain things that she does in life might not reflect what other people’s understanding of reality is.”
Asked about Khai’s ambitions, Malik said she has her sights firmly set on a career in K-pop. “She definitely wants to be a K-pop star. She’s big into K-pop,” he said, adding that while he would prefer to shield her from the pressures of the music industry, her happiness ultimately takes priority. “I’d like to keep her away from it, but at the end of the day, if she’s happy, I’ll support her. I would like to keep her away from some of the headache that this job entails.”
Malik and Hadid began dating in late 2015, parted ways and reconciled multiple times over six years, and welcomed Khai in September 2020 before separating permanently in October 2021. Their split followed a reported altercation between Malik and Hadid’s mother, Yolanda Hadid, for which the singer received a 360-day probation sentence and was ordered to complete anger management and domestic violence programs.
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Despite the acrimonious circumstances of their breakup, both have spoken publicly about maintaining a functional co-parenting arrangement. Hadid addressed the dynamic in a previous interview with Vogue, describing a custody schedule planned months in advance and a relationship built on mutual support.
“Zayn (Malik) and I do our custody schedules months in advance. That doesn’t mean that it doesn’t change here and there, but we help each other out and have each other’s backs,” Hadid said. She described their current dynamic as one grounded in “love, and a feeling of camaraderie.”
During the same podcast appearance, Malik also revisited comments he made in 2024 questioning whether he had ever truly been in love. He did not retract the statement. “Yeah, because my understanding of love is always developing,” he said. “At that moment in time, I might have thought it was love, but as I got older, I realized maybe it wasn’t. Maybe it was lust.”
Hadid has since entered a relationship with actor Bradley Cooper. Reports published in December indicated that Cooper had sought both families’ blessing ahead of a potential marriage proposal.
Malik is preparing to release his fifth solo studio album, “Konnakol,” on April 17, 2026, followed by a UK and North American arena tour beginning in May. The podcast appearance marked one of his most candid public conversations in years, touching on fatherhood, his past relationship, and his complicated feelings about fame.
